Chapter 23

The hike to the quarry was mostly uneventful. The ground was still very wet, but the weather was gorgeous. Through breaks in the trees, we caught glimpses of the cloudless, cerulean sky. A light breeze rustled the tops of the trees and the temperature was actually cool and comfortable.

Manfred took the lead, followed by Jenny, Gina, and then Kendall. I brought up the rear. While we hiked, I let my mind wander. I could tell that Gina and Kendall were just as excited as I was, but the nervousness of the day before had returned, if somewhat abated.

I began to think about what sex with Kendall would be like. Though bigger than Gina overall, she was actually smaller in some ways. I thought her hips were narrower, but that could’ve been because her breasts were bigger. In addition, her pussy was smaller. I don’t quite know how to explain it, but her labia were thin and narrow, where Gina’s were fuller, plumper. And each time I’d slipped my finger inside Kendall, she’d been very tight. I was sure I’d be able to get my dick inside her—after all babies came out of the same place and I wasn’t anywhere near as big as that—but I knew it might be a challenge.

Babies? Oh, no! Was Kendall on the pill? I froze in my tracks. I wanted to smack myself in the forehead. I hadn’t even asked!

Note to self: Heed your own advice, and pay attention to the women in your life.

I certainly didn’t have any rubbers, and if Kendall weren’t on the pill, then I had a real dilemma. I definitely didn’t want a repeat of the pregnancy scare, and judging by Kendall’s comments about her mother, I didn’t think she’d let her daughter start taking birth control pills. Could she have gotten them without her mother knowing? I didn’t know, and I once again castigated myself for not asking. If only I’d known, I could’ve figured out a way to get some rubbers, just in case.

When I finally looked up, the rest of the group was about a hundred feet ahead of me. Kendall had just noticed that I wasn’t behind her, and had stopped to look back at me.

“Sorry!” I shouted. “I was just retying my shoe.” I quickly jogged to catch up, the heavy pack bouncing against my back.

The rest of the hike, I worried about what I’d do if Kendall weren’t on the pill. Would I still have sex with her? If I did, would I be able to pull out in time? The one time I had come inside Amy, I had also thought I’d be able to pull out in time. Of course, I’d been wrong. Would I be able to pull out of Kendall? I simply didn’t know. I hoped so, but I had my niggling doubts. Was it worth having sex with her if she weren’t on the pill? Yes, my dick shouted. No, my brain screamed. Unfortunately, watching her shapely ass ahead of me, my dick seemed to be the loudest.

By the time we reached the stream leading away from the quarry, I had nearly worked myself into a frantic funk. I wanted to have sex with Kendall, but I didn’t want to take the chance of getting her pregnant. As long as I didn’t come inside her, I thought I’d be safe. But I fervently hoped she was on the pill. And I do mean fervently.

The quarry lake was much higher than normal, due to all the rain. The waterfall was practically shooting over the edge of the cliff. Normally, we’d immediately take a swim and cool off, but the day was so temperate that none of us really felt the need. While the girls stored our lunch in the shade of the flattop rock, Manfred and I laid out our towels.

Then, we all sat down to take off our shoes and socks. Manfred and Jenny placed theirs next to each other. When Gina saw this, she grinned at me, took my shoes, then placed them together, a little apart from the others. Kendall watched all this with characteristic silence. When she set her shoes down, they were separate from the rest. Gina rolled her eyes theatrically. Then she picked up Kendall’s shoes and set them next to mine. The way she had them situated, my shoes were in between the girls’. Kendall smiled shyly and thanked Gina with her eyes.

“Who wants to go for a swim?” Manfred asked.

“Y’all go ahead,” I said. “I think I’m just gonna soak up some sun for a while.”

“C’mon, Paul,” Manfred said. “Come with us. Dude, you know you wanna.”

I shook my head. “You all go on.”

“You know you wanna go for a swim,” he said with a grin. “I can see it.”

I don’t know what possessed Manfred, but he actually tried to drag me to the edge of the rock and shove me into the water. I could tell he was playing, but I decided to hold my ground. Though he was a lot taller than me and had longer arms, I easily stood firm. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the girls watching us and trying not to giggle. When I wouldn’t budge, Manfred took it as a further challenge and really strained. Unfortunately for him, I was stronger than he was. Worse, I had a lower center of gravity and a lot more experience with grappling.

“You shouldn’t’ve started this, Stick,” I said, easily standing immobile.

“You’re goin’ in the water, Little Man.” He grunted and tried to shove me toward the edge.

“No way.”

“Stump,” he said with a grin.

“Freak of nature.”

“Freak of nature?! You’re the freak of nature.” He redoubled his efforts to overpower me. “Jesus, you’re a lot stronger than you used to be,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Yep.” Then I saw my opening and seized it. Since he was taller than me, I could easily slip my arm around his back and get my shoulder under his. When I did, I took one step, planted my right foot, shot my hip into his, then pivoted my torso. It’s a wrestling move called a hip toss, and it worked perfectly on him. With my arm around Manfred’s back, and using my hip for leverage, I easily threw him over the edge of the boulder. He flew through the air, flailing and wordlessly crying out in frustration mixed with surprised amusement.

When he sputtered to the surface, I looked down at him. “Are you o—?”

Several feminine hands slammed into my back and propelled me off the rock. I hurtled toward the water, trying to turn my ungainly fall into a dive. Unfortunately, I had too much momentum. I think my “dive” would charitably be called a graceless headfirst sprawl. I shot to the surface to find all three girls laughing and pointing at us.

“Men,” Gina said, trying to put a note of disgust in her voice.

Jenny turned to her and they grinned. “You can’t live with ‘em... , “ Jenny said.

“And you can’t live without ‘em,” Kendall finished.

Manfred and I could only look at each other and laugh. Then we watched as the girls dived in, one after the other. After that, we swam around for a while, just goofing off and enjoying the cool weather. The lake was full of debris from the storm, but we avoided most of it (including two fairly large tree trunks).

I really hadn’t been in the mood to swim, however, so I headed back to the big rock after only fifteen minutes. Manfred wanted to swim out to the falls, and Gina and Kendall decided to go with him. Oddly enough, Jenny told Manfred she was a little cold and was going back to the rock with me.

Once we got there, I waited for Jenny to climb onto the low rocks and then hauled myself up. She squeezed the water out of her long, dark hair and smiled at me. Always the opportunist, I enjoyed the chance to check out her high, firm breasts and stiff nipples when she wasn’t looking. Then we climbed onto the top of the boulder and sat down. I hadn’t spent much time alone with Jenny, so we were both a little nervous. Finally, she looked up at me and smiled.

“Thanks for talking to Manfred,” she said.

“What do you mean?” I asked, playing dumb. I wasn’t about to give away Manfred’s source of insight.

She made a moue. “You know what I mean. I know it was you. Manny’s a sweet guy, but he doesn’t pay attention to girls, not like you do.”

I kept my expression guarded.

“It’s cool,” she said. “I won’t tell him we talked. I just wanted to say thanks.”

“You’re welcome, I guess.”

She smiled warmly. “And ... um ... thanks for giving him a few pointers about—” she vaguely waved her hand at her pussy, “—you know.”

I felt my cheeks heating. “Uh...”

Then her attitude changed subtly. “I’m sure he’s not as good in that department as you are,” she said, “but at least he tries.”

“Um ... That’s good. I guess.”

She nodded. We sat in silence for a few moments and then she looked at me questioningly. “How come you never came on to me?” she asked.

“Huh?”

“You know,” she prodded.

I nodded, suddenly anxious. The truth was that I thought she was pretty, but I wasn’t attracted to her. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell her that, so I temporized. “Well, you didn’t seem to be interested.”

“That was when my family first started coming to camp,” she said. “I thought you were just some fifteen-year-old.”

“Ah.”

“And,” she said, blushing, “I thought you were too short.”

I chuckled. “Yeah.”

“But once I got to know you...”

I shrugged. “I dunno. I guess by then, you were already with Manfred.”

It was her turn to shrug. “Manfred’s nice and all, but I’ll bet he doesn’t know all the things you do. You know, things you do to make a girl feel good.”

I felt my face heat as I found myself at a loss for words.

“So, how come you never came on to me?” she asked again.

“Well, I’m with Gina now.”

“But if you weren’t?”

Tell her no! Tell her the truth! Just tell her thanks, but no thanks. “Yeah,” I lied with a noncommittal shrug. “Maybe.” Her answering smile worried me. Thank God she’s leaving tomorrow, I thought.

Before either of us could say anything else, Manfred climbed onto the boulder. Jenny smiled up at him as if she and I hadn’t had the previous conversation.

“Do you want me to put sunblock on you, Manny?” she asked.

He picked up his towel, dried his face, then nodded.

Jenny smiled at me as she stood up.

Why couldn’t I have just told her the truth?

Fortunately, Gina and Kendall joined us a few minutes later.

“Hey, dude,” Manfred said to me. “Let’s blow up the rafts.”

I welcomed the distraction and quickly agreed.

“Did you all wanna go up to the top of the falls?” Gina asked as Manfred and I rummaged in our packs.

“I kinda wanted to stay down here,” Jenny said.

Manfred merely nodded.

“Okay,” Gina said. “Kendall and I are gonna grab our towels and head up. Is there anything you want us to take with us, Paul?”

I took my lips off the raft’s nozzle and pinched it shut. “Anything else you want up there,” I said with a shrug. “I’ll finish blowing this thing up and then I’ll join you.”

She nodded and began stuffing things into my empty backpack. When she had it loaded, she picked it up, kissed me on the cheek, and turned to Kendall. They hopped from rock to rock until they reached the edge of the quarry and then walked toward the falls. I don’t know why I didn’t go with them. I guess I figured that since I’d started blowing up the raft, I’d better finish it before I walked up.

Much to my consternation, Jenny gave me an odd look. It wasn’t smoldering so much as challenging. Then she moved to sit next to Manfred, to the side and a little behind him. Since he couldn’t really see her, except out of the corner of his eye, he didn’t notice that she’d spread her legs. I had a perfect view of her pussy, of course, which was her intention. As she sweetly talked to him, she spread her legs a little further, her lightly-furred slit winking into view.

I filled my lungs with air and redoubled my efforts to inflate the raft. While Jenny had an innocuous conversation with Manfred—she did most of the talking, he merely nodded or shook his head—she kept her legs spread. A couple of times, she looked at me and smiled. When she did, I would simply smile in return and take another deep breath.

I finished inflating my raft long before Manfred did. And then I wondered at the stupidity of what I’d just done. Why had I even bothered to inflate it down here? If I’d been thinking straight, I would’ve just folded it up, taken it to the top of the falls, and inflated it there.

“I’ve about got this thing blown up,” I said to Manfred.

He merely nodded, his lips still attached to his raft’s inflator nozzle.

“So I’m gonna head on up to the falls. You two have fun.”

He nodded again and waved with his free hand.

“Seeya, Jenny,” I said, trying to be courteous.

She smiled politely, but didn’t do anything else, much to my relief. But as I stood, she snaked her hand into Manfred’s lap. Judging by his strangled cry, she had obviously grabbed his dick. As I turned to walk toward the rim wall, she was already lowering her head to his lap.

It was then that I discovered the second major problem with inflating the raft on the boulder—I had to carry it all the way up to the falls. It wasn’t heavy, but it was awkward. I couldn’t tuck it under my arm, nor could I hold it with one hand. The only way I could carry it was on top of my head, supported by my hands. The walk to the top of the falls would only take about ten minutes, but I didn’t look forward to keeping my arms in the air the whole time.

As I walked around the rim wall, I looked back at Manfred and Jenny. Manfred had pushed aside the half-inflated raft. He had his hand on the back of Jenny’s head as she bobbed up and down in his lap. She certainly liked to show off, I thought. I didn’t mind, but it had been a little uncomfortable when she was obviously flirting with me.

After all, Manfred was my friend, and I wasn’t going to do anything with Jenny. I wouldn’t mind having sex with her, if the situation were different, but friends are friends. I wasn’t about to spoil my friendship with Manfred over Jenny, especially when I had two beautiful girls waiting for me at the top of the falls. I simply shook my head at Jenny’s antics and kept walking.

In the meantime, I thought about my dilemma. What if Kendall weren’t on the pill? What would I do? I wanted to have sex with her. Correction, I really, really wanted to have sex with her. And more importantly, I wanted to come inside her. I don’t know why, but I guess I figured it would be the consummation of our relationship. Unfortunately, I kept coming back to my own words to Gina, “it’s not just about the orgasm.”

If I cared about Kendall, if I truly loved her, coming inside her shouldn’t strengthen our relationship at all. In a perfect world, that might be the case, but I reluctantly decided that I lived in the real world. I want to come inside her, I childishly ranted silently.

I felt like sulking. My sustaining hope was that she was somehow on the pill. Unfortunately, I didn’t think she was. What would I do? Would I be able to have sex with her and not come? Did I really want to? Could I simply have sex with her and then come on her stomach, or in her mouth? Probably, I thought gloomily. But I don’t want to. I felt like stomping my foot.

When I reached the top of the falls, all my troubled thoughts seemed to evaporate. Gina and Kendall were sitting close, hugging each other, and I could tell they were both crying.

Uh-oh, I thought. Not a good sign.

I dropped the raft and ran over to them, somehow thinking I could use my physical presence alone to ward off whatever had upset them. When they heard me come up, they separated and looked up.

“Hi,” Gina said tearfully, wiping her cheeks. She smiled and then sniffled.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, a little too peremptorily.

“It’s okay, Paul,” she said gently.

Kendall looked up and nodded, smiling wanly as she did.

“Are you two all right?”

“We’re fine. We were just having a little girl talk.”

“About what?” I asked, curious as to what had gotten them so worked up. I looked around, clenching my fists in frustration, and wondered what I could do. I probably looked like a Neanderthal, protecting his women from predators. That may sound like a striking image, but it felt ridiculous.

“Girl talk,” she said patiently. She lifted her hand and I automatically took it to help her to her feet. When she was standing, she stepped close and put her arms around my waist. “It’s okay. We’re okay. We just had some ... things to talk about, that’s all.”

I put my arms around her and looked down at her. “Are you sure?”

She nodded and then laid her head on my chest, hugging me tight. When she pulled back, she looked up at me, her eyes glittering. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” I said distractedly. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

She nodded. “We’re fine, Paul. Will you relax? You can’t solve every problem with muscles.”

I looked at her, chagrined. “Okay. But you still haven’t told me why you two are crying.”

She pulled back and wiped her cheeks again, smiling up at me. “They’re good tears, Paul, happy tears. Don’t worry.”

Kendall nodded.

“Kendall and I simply had a good heart-to-heart talk,” Gina said.

“About what?” I asked, a little suspiciously.

“About a lot of things.”

“Like what?”

She sighed in exasperation. “About you, silly. About the three of us. About today. Now will you leave it alone?”

“Oh.” I blinked in comprehension. “Yeah. Sorry.”

She stood on tiptoe and kissed my cheek. “Sometimes, you worry too much. Everything’s fine.” Then she pulled back. “Just a minute. Let me get my towel.”

I nodded as she slipped from my arms. Get her towel? What for?

She picked it up and then folded it over her arm. “There,” she said brightly.

Kendall stood up and looked at us nervously.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Walk with me for a minute,” Gina said, thrusting her arm through mine.

Despite my growing confusion, I turned and walked with her, away from Kendall. When we’d gone about fifty feet, I stopped and turned to her. “Now will you tell me what’s going on?” I asked.

“Kendall and I wanted to talk.” She stroked my arm and looked up at me. “Well, really, she wanted to talk. That’s why we came up here without you,” she said. “I was wondering why you were inflating the raft down there, but in a way, I was glad. It gave Kendall and me some time alone.”

I nodded. “And?”

“She was really upset. And anxious.”

“About what?” I asked, my voice hard.

“About a lot of things,” she said in irritation. “Will you get it through your thick head that I’m not gonna tell you everything we talked about?” When I started to bristle at her harsh words, she quickly grew contrite. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t’ve said that.”

I tried to laugh it off. “True, your mom wouldn’t be proud.”

She shrugged. “Well, I’m sorry. But I’m also serious. Some of what we talked about is just between the two of us. Kendall ... um ... she asked me not to tell you.” She looked up at me earnestly. “Okay?”

“Let me ask one question.”

She nodded.

“Is Kendall okay with this? With today?”

To my surprise, she considered the question for a moment. Finally, she nodded. “Yes. She is. She really does love you, and she’s excited. But she’s also nervous. Okay? Is that enough of an answer?”

I nodded.

“If she wants to tell you more, she will,” she said cryptically. “You can ask her, I guess.”

“Okay,” I said slowly.

A shadow crossed her expression and she sighed. “She was also worried about me.”

“You?”

“Yeah. Well, not really worried about me, but worried about how I’d react.” She looked down and shrugged sadly. “She was worried that I’d get angry if she didn’t want to have sex with me.”

When she looked up, there were fresh tears in her eyes. I pulled her close, to comfort her. It was the only thing I could think to do.

“She was worried that I wouldn’t let you be with her if she didn’t have sex with me. That’s one of the reasons she was so nervous yesterday. I mean, I can understand why she was nervous about it being her fir—” She looked up at me and sniffled. “Um ... never mind,” she said quickly. “Anyway, she was so worried about me and how I’d react.”

Her fir? Her first? Her first what? I nodded distractedly. It sounded like something Kendall would think of, but I was stuck on what Gina had almost said.

Then Gina looked down again. In a very small voice, she said, “She would’ve gone through with it, though. She would’ve had sex with me if it’s the only way she could be with you.” When she looked up, two large tears rolled down her cheeks. “I’d never force her, you’ve got to believe me,” she said plaintively. “I’d never use you like that, use you as leverage against someone else.” She sniffled miserably and looked down. “Especially not Kendall.”

Suddenly, all thoughts of half-finished sentences vanished. I looked down at Gina in concern. “I know you wouldn’t, honey,” I said earnestly.

“You’ve got to believe that I wouldn’t!”

“I believe you. I know you better than that. And so does Kendall,” I said soothingly. “She was just scared. And ... well ... sometimes, when Kendall gets emotional, she doesn’t think as clearly as she usually does.”

“She doesn’t?”

I shook my head. “Usually, she’s really good at figuring people out, but sometimes, especially where she’s concerned, she’s got this blind spot. So I’m sure she didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

She sniffled. “I know she didn’t.” Then she looked at me, her eyes pleading for understanding. “Paul, you should’ve seen her. She was so scared of how I’d react. I just can’t believe it. And she would’ve gone through with it—had sex with me even though she doesn’t like girls—if she thought that’s the only way she could have you.”

The self-accusing tone in Gina’s voice nearly ripped my heart out. “It’s okay,” I said softly. “She didn’t go through with it, though, did she?”

It was a rhetorical question, but she shook her head sullenly.

“She talked to you first. Right?”

A nod.

“That means she respects you. I’m sure it took a lot of courage for her to talk to you about it.”

“Yeah. So?”

“If she didn’t care about you, she would’ve just kept her mouth shut. Has Kara ever told you what the opposite of love is?”

“Indifference.”

“Mmm hmm. And if Kendall didn’t care about you, she wouldn’t’ve even gotten upset about it. She certainly wouldn’t’ve talked to you about it.”

“Do you really think so?” she asked, looking up hopefully.

I nodded with all the sincerity I could muster. “Yes. I think she was more worried about losing you as a friend.”

She shook her head and laughed morosely. “No. She was worried about not being with you.”

“Okay, she was worried about both,” I said firmly.

She could tell by my tone that I’d brook no objection, so she nodded. “I can’t believe she was worried that I’d be angry.”

“Gina,” I said and then waited for her to look up. “She knows about ... um ... your ‘weeklong lapse of sanity.’ I’m sure she was scared that you wouldn’t talk to her. And I know that would hurt her. Very badly.”

“I’d never do that,” she said. “Well, not again.”

I nodded. I certainly hope not, I thought with a trace of resentment. “I know you wouldn’t,” I said gently. “Now, let’s go back over there. We can put the raft down, lay the blanket on top of it, and relax.”

She shook her head.

“Why not?”

“Well, that’s part of what we were talking about.” Her shoulders heaved as she started crying again.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m so awful,” she moaned.

“What makes you say that?” I asked, half in surprise and half in fear.

“I didn’t even think about what K-Kendall wanted.” When she looked up at me, she was biting the inside of her lip, tears streaming down her face once again.

I pulled back a little, cupped her face in my hands, and wiped her tears with my thumbs.

“W-when I got to be with you, our f-first time,” she said, trying to smile, “we were alone.”

I nodded, unsure of the direction the conversation was going.

“With you and K-Kendall, I w-wanted to watch, like it was s-some show you were putting on for my benefit. Like s-she was just some girl I was going to w-watch you fuck,” she said miserably.

“Did Kendall say that?” I asked sharply.

Gina shook her head. “No. She’s too p-polite. But I know she w-wants to be alone with you.” She took a deep, shuddering breath and sniffled. “And I was only th-thinking of what I wanted. S-so I told her I’d leave y-you two alone for the afternoon. I’m just gonna go now,” she said sullenly.

“Oh, no you don’t,” I said sternly. “You’re not going anywhere.”

“Yes I am. I’m g-going to leave you two alone.” She tried to pull away from me, but I was much stronger than her.

Instead, I turned her around and almost marched her back to where Kendall still stood, trepidation plainly graven upon her face. She looked up at me and smiled thinly, her expression full of empathy and concern for Gina.

“I’m so awful,” Gina said suddenly, looking up at Kendall. “Will you ever forgive me?”

At that point, Kendall’s tears returned full force, and she rushed toward Gina. They embraced tightly, each of them trying to apologize and comfort the other. I hovered protectively in the background as each girl professed to be the cause of the other’s suffering.

When their tearful and half-spoken conversation devolved into each of them saying, “No, it’s all my fault,” I stepped forward. “Girls,” I said firmly, stepping close to them. “I’m sure this is somehow my fault. Now, we’re all sorry, and none of us will ever do this again.”

They looked at me blankly. Then Kendall broke the spell by playfully pounding her fist into my chest. It didn’t really hurt, but it served to focus our attention.

“And don’t you ever do it again,” she said.

We all understood my ruse for what it was—a way for each of them to admit responsibility and accept the other’s forgiveness—and it worked like a charm. I spread my arms and wrapped them around both girls. For several minutes, I simply hugged them as they calmed down. Then I felt Gina look at Kendall.

“I’m so sorry,” Gina said to the other girl.

“I’m sorry too,” Kendall replied.

“And I’m sorry,” I said.

They looked at me, puzzled.

I grinned as mischievously as I could. “It’s a lot of work, taking care of two beautiful girls,” I said with mock seriousness.

“Ha!” Gina snorted. “You’re lucky you have us.”

“Yes,” I said with genuine feeling, “I am. I’d be very lucky to have either of you. But I’m a million times luckier since I have both of you.”

Gina nodded.

“Well,” Kendall said, tensing up a little, “you haven’t exactly had me yet.”

When she looked at me and grinned, I realized that her tenseness was mirth as much as nervousness.

Gina giggled and that set us all to laughing.

When we calmed down, I kissed Gina and then turned to Kendall. Her kiss was full of warmth and promise, and devoid of anxiety. “Now,” I said, “why don’t we take a quick dip in the pool, cool off, and get cleaned up.”

They shared an exhausted but happy smile and then nodded.

While Gina and Kendall were still in the pool, talking quietly near the tree line where the stream emerged, I picked up storm debris and generally got our spot ready. I also kept a close eye on the girls. They were having a serious conversation, but I relaxed when I realized that it was without the hysterics and self-recriminations from earlier.

Once I had all the fallen branches moved to the side, I laid the inflated raft on the sandy soil and covered it with our blanket. Then I rejoined the girls in the pool. To my pleasure, they both smiled at me as I waded toward them.

“I thought I’d leave you two alone for a while,” Gina said as I approached.

I merely shook my head.

“You don’t have to,” Kendall said at the same time.

“I want to,” Gina insisted. “I want you to have some time alone.” Then she turned to Kendall and looked at her intently. “You know, so it’ll be special,” she said.

“Listen,” I said reasonably, “why don’t we all stay together for a while. After everybody got upset earlier—” both girls grinned sheepishly, “—I think we should probably just relax and enjoy ourselves. We don’t have a schedule.”

“I do,” Kendall said suddenly. When Gina and I looked at her, she smiled. “You know: seven o’clock, take shower and shave legs; seven fifteen, fix breakfast for friends; seven forty-five, hike to quarry; ten o’clock, arrive at quarry; ten fifteen, have sex with boyfriend; ten thirty, have sex with boyfriend a second time; ten forty-five, have more sex with boy—”

At that point, Gina and I both lost it and started laughing.

“I’m serious,” I said when we calmed down. “We’re not on a schedule.”

“She is,” Gina said. Then she grabbed my wrist and looked at my watch. “And you’re forty-five minutes behind schedule. It’s almost eleven.” She looked at me and grinned. “You’d better get hopping, big boy.”

That started another round of laughter. When it died down, I looked at them soberly. “Why don’t we just hang out here for a half-hour or so and then go down and have lunch. Then we can decide what we want to do. Okay?”